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Frattini seeks quick fix after passenger data judgment

Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for justice, freedom and security has said he will ask the US for changes to the content of passenger data transferred by European airlines but only after an interim agreement is reached.

The European Court of Justice on 30 May struck down an existing deal which allows the EU to pass airline passenger information to the US, saying the wrong legal basis had been used. The court gave until 30 September for a new deal to be agreed and the Commission has so far proposed simply changing the agreement from the legal framework involving the internal market to the framework involving justice and security.

But members of the European Parliament who brought the challenge in the court over civil liberties concerns are insisting that the EU renegotiate the type of data transferred and the safeguards on its collection and use.

Frattini told MEPs this week that there was no time for such renegotiation before September 30 but as the original deal was to expire next year he would at that point seek changes from the US.

“We are obliged to re- negotiate the content then with the US and we will have enough time to do so,” said Frattini.

He said he wanted to change the way data was exchanged, as currently the US retrieves the data from airlines’ databases, whereas there had been an agreement that when the technology was available the data would be passed onto them. MEPs pointed out that though this technology is now available, the US continues to retrieve rather than receive the data.

Frattini also said control over the system and the introduction of regular, public evaluations of its workings would also be looked at during renegotiations next year. MEPs criticised the commissioner for not making public the entire contents of an evaluation of the present system, but he said that under an agreement with the US on the workings of their intelligence agencies this was not possible.

Dutch Green MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg said the content should be renegotiated, the current evaluation made public and the EU’s attitude to the US reassessed. “What is our strategy towards America? Why are we always thinking whether they are comfortable with something?” she asked.

Liberal Sophie in ‘t Veld also challenged the notion that content could not be reopened at this stage. “We had problems with this right from the start. How can you expect us to negotiate an agreement without looking at the content?” she asked.

Frattini warned that if no deal was in place by 30 September the individual airlines would have to reach bilateral deals with the US. He said this would have “negative repercussions” as there would be no legal certainty throughout the EU and that passenger data would not be adequately protected. He said he expected the legality of those bilateral agreements would be challenged in the courts. “There will be a high number of legal proceedings by individuals because of the lack of legal certainty,” he said.